LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





DDDDSDEfima 






L^ 7 —^ 



ITH MEXICO. 



1^ 



SERMON 



PREACHED IN THE NORTH CHURCH, 



J?OKTS?MOUTH, J\. H. 



Sept. 7, 1843, 



BY RUFIIS W. CLARK, A, M. 

PASTOR. 



PfBLISHED BY KEfiUEST 



C. VV. BREW5TEK, rKINTER, 

ld45. 



1 i'H ? 5 



SERMON. 



Luke 2 : 14. 
'* 071 earth peace, good will toward men.^^ 

These words are a part of the song that was sung 
by the angelic hosts, in presence of the shepherds, in 
honor of the birth of the Savior. As the pious shep- 
herds were watching their flocks by night, suddenly a 
bright light surrounded them, and they were terrified by 
the splendor and strangeness of the scene. But soon 
they hear the multitude of the heavenly host praising 
God and saying, " Glory to God in the highest and on 
earth peace, good will toward men." 

Thus was Christ heralded, and every where we find 
him introduced by the sacred writers as the Prince of 
Peace. He comes to induce men to beat their swords 
into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning hooks, 
and no longer learn war or lift up their sword against 
each oilier. The principle of his holy religion is good 
will towards men — towards all men — those of our own 
nation and of every other nation under heaven. And to 
this principle it is proper that we give our attention at 
the present time, as the subject of war is agitated 
throughout our land, and we are in danger of coming in 
conflict with a neighboring republic. Recently sonie 
of us witnessed the departure of soldiers from this place, 
who, torn from their families and friends, were forced 
to hurry to the scene of anticipated conflict, there to 
encounter not only the dangers of war, but the peiil of 
disease and a fever often fatal to those unused to the 
climate. 'I'hey bade us farewell, knowing not but that 
it was their last farewell ; and that they will all return, 
the contingencies of war leave us little reason to expect. 



4 

Tt would seem as tliough the experience of the 
world, of the evils and horrors of war, was sufficient 
to change the tone of public opinion upon this subject, 
and especially, that christian nations would find some 
other mode of settling their difficulties than by a resort 
to the field of battle. And I cannot but express my 
surprise at the apathy that reigns among professing 
christians, and the silence of the pulpit and the reli- 
gious press in reference to our relations to a sister 
republic. In former days, the danger of a war with 
any foreign power speedily aroused the ministers of 
the Prince of peace, and they publicly and fearlessly 
gave their views, and used their influence to ex- 
pose the sins of the nation and arrest the calamities 
of heaven. And has the pulpit grown timid and tiine- 
serving, that her voice can no longer be heard upon 
questions of national interest and importance ? If 
tho^e who are set as watchmen upon the walls of 
Zion refuse to give the alarm at the approach of (Lin- 
ger, woe to them and the cause they espouse. 

It is true that inlho difficulties now before our coun- 
try our attention is turned towards a weak foe. If 
war comes, it is with a nation without resources, 
without discipline, without the elements of conquest; 
but still the principles involved in the matter are the 
same as though we were on the eve of a war with Great 
Britain or France. Besides, a war commenced with 
any nation however weak, will terminate, God only 
knows where. What human foresight can mark the 
contingencies and difficulties that may arise — the col- 
lisions accidental or otherwise that may take place be- 
tween this and somo of the nations of Europe. Let 
us once embark upon an enterprise of injustice and 
oppression, and I fear that before we were through 
with the business we should feel to our deep sorrow 
the judgments of Heaven. God would lead us in a 
path, from which, could we ni)w see it, wo should 
shrink back with disniay. True we arc now strong 



— prosperous and happy ; but strong, prosperous and 
happy repuhlics have fallen, and ihey may again fall. 
We have within our own borders, as well as without, 
the elements of commotion and disaster. We have 
nearly 3,000,000 of slaves, who, to say the least, have 
no great love for their oppressors. We have some 
millions of Papists who would exult over the destruc- 
tion of our free institutions. We have, thanks be to 
God, some Christianity, but we have much infidelity, 
and many forms of error for which we deserve the 
chastisements of heaven. 

In dwelling more at large upon our relations with 
Mexico, 1 propose to adduce in the spirit of kindness, 
several reasons why we should not be embroiled in a 
war with this people : and T would remark at the 
outset, that I do not think that this question is now a 
party question, or one on which a person should allow 
his party feelings to bias his judgment. It is a 
national question, in the discussion of which every 
christian, every philanthropist, and every American 
citizen is deeply interested. I would assail no man's 
honest opinions, but while I would have this and every 
other subject exatnined in the light of truth and evi- 
dence, I would also allow liberty of thought, and speech 
and opinion to all : and the same privilege I would 
claim for myself 

In the first place, a war with this people would be 
unjust, impolitic, and in the view of Heaven criminal. 
When the question of annexing a part of her territory 
to this country was first agitated, there was, at the north 
at least, but one opinion upon the subject. Remon- 
strances against the measure were sent on to Congress 
from several of the state legislatures, irrespective of 
party. We did not wish an extension of our territory, 
neither were we willing to do any thing towards ex- 
tending or perpetuating slavery ; besides we were at 
peace with Mexico, and it was for the interest of both 
nations that these friendly relations should be preserv- 



ed. Mexico, like ourselves, when her independence 
of the niotlier counlry was declared, esiabli.-^lied a re- 
publican form of government. It is true that the 
experiment of a free government has not been as suc- 
cessful with them as with us, owing to the want of 
general intelligence and virtue among the people.— 
The country has been rent by factions and convulsed 
by revolution after revolution, and the highest office 
in the state has been held by the popular military 
chieftain. Still the nation is deserving of our sym- 
pathies and cooperation, and for the sake of liberty 
and republicanism we should live in harmony with them. 
Many are apt to regard the insurrection of the 
Texans as an honest struggle for liberty, and a parallel 
is instituted between this and our revolution; but who- | 
ever will take the pains to examine into the subject | 
will discover, that the real grounds for revolt were an j 
avaricious spirit of speculation, and a desire to estab- 
lish the system of slavery in that free country. We 
allow that the Te.xans were justified in complaining to the 
general government, of certain grievances which they 
sufTered, but on the other hand they were themselves 
chargeable with many wrongs in violating the laws 
under which they voluntarily lived. They were but 
a handful of people, while the nation consisted of 
9,000,000 ; and at the breaking out of the insurrec- 
tion, the Texans could number but 20,000 men, wo- 
men and children. To unfold in its length and 
breadth the spirit of speculation which has pervaded 
this land, would perhaps be entering more into detail 
than the present occasion would demand : but the m- 1 
flaence of slavery in producing this revolt should not { 
be passed unnoticed. Mexico, when she threw o(T the | 
Spanish yoke, gave a noble testimony in favor of free i 
principles, by decreeing ♦' that no person thereafter | 
should be born a slave or introduced as such into thci 
Mexican states : that all slaves then held should receive i 
stipulated wages and be subject to no punishment but j 



on trial and judgment by the magistrate." Yet it is 
a matter of deep regret that slave holders, from our 
own states, did emigrate to that country carrying with 
them their slaves, and in direct violation of the Mexi- 
can laws, establish upon soil consecrated to freedom, 
this odious system. The attention of the South and 
West had been for some time turned to this section as 
a new market for slaves — as a new field for slave 
labor — and as furnishing them the means of greatly 
augmenting their political power. And in the revolt 
of this territory we all know how much aid was im- 
parted by the slave holding interest of this country. — ■ 
Now shall we, to bind this province to our own land, go to 
war with a nation, with whom we have every motive 
to live on terms of peace ? Is it right — is it honorable — 
is it christian like, to grasp this country at ihe point of 
the bayonet, and make war for a province that must 
prove more of a curse to us than a blessing? Besides 
the policy of this nation is to be at peace with the 
world. It is in lime of peace that the resources of 
this great nation have been developed — cities have 
been built — our commerce extended and the arts and 
sciences promoted. Peace has enabled us to extend 
abroad the blessings of Christianity — to send the mis- 
sionary of the cross to distant nations, and promulgate 
the principles of liberty and virtue over the world. — 
And shall we at the North buckle on our armour and 
engage in an enterprise that must check every improve- 
ment of the age — that must throw back the cause of 
freedom and religion perhaps for centuries — that must 
make our nation a hissing and a by -word among the 
nations of the earth ? Must we fight the battles of 
slavery in this free land and in this 19tli cenlury .' — 
Shall we give our money, our prayers and our influence 
to send the gospel to the distant heathen, and feel no 
conmiiseration for the thousands on our own borders ? 
What sin has Mexico committed that she should be 
robbed of her territory, and our naval and land forces be 



all collccied around her ? Ah! her sin is thai she is 
weak. Another of her crimes is that she has abolish- 
ed slavery within her dominions, and we must make 
war upon her to force back this system upon her soil. 
But if Mexico is now weak, she manifested a spirit 
in throwing off the dominion of Spain, which entitles 
her to the respect at least of those who sympathize 
with her free principles. "There is," says one of 
her historians, "no greater marvel in history, than that 
an empire with enervated character, oppressed, igno- 
rant and almost destroyed, should still have had the 
spirit to discover and assert her rights. She in that 
struggle cast aside the allurements of rank, and con- 
verted her whole territory into a battle-field. She tore 
herself from all the fast rooted allegiances and loyal- 
ties of three centuries. She went through fifteen years 
of civil slaughter, and at length, alone, unaided, un- 
sympathized with by the rest of the world, she achieved 
her independence. 
"For the victory over such obstacles, Mexico deserves 

praise nay, more, she deserves the unqualified respect 

of the world, and especially of that portion of it which 
pretends to be the fostering parent of human rights and 
liberty throughout the globe. It proves that she pos- 
sesses a sense of right, the power of endurance, and a 
devotion to principle ; and that with domestic peace 
she would assume among the nations of the earth the 
hi'h place to which she is entitled." 

°Had Mexico possessed our Washington, or had Itur- 
bedo possessed the wisdom and virtue which charac- 
terized the father of our country, he might, when 
Mexico first asserted her independence of the mother 
country, have established a republican constitution 
npon a. sj^re foundation. The day when he induced 
his soUlic'7 to proclaim him Emperor, was a sad one 
for the liberties of his nation, and tho' his reign was a 
short one, the bias given to public feeling and opinion 
at that early period of their independence has ever 
since excrlod a most doslru-uivc intluencc. And dc> 



9 

we, more fortunate than she, stand ready to throw new 
obstacles in her way ? When already exhausted by 
past conflicts, and wasted and torn by internal comnjo- 
tion, shall we add to her distresses by waging an unjust 
war upon her, and letting loose the demon vampire who 
may suck the last drop of blood ? Do we stand in 
such need of her territory for the purpose of cursing it 
with slavery, that we must have it though rivers of 
blood are made to flow ? 

There are considerations growins out of the nature 
of war, that appeal to every philanthropist and christian. 

I need not remind you of the spirit that our Saviour 
breathed and the numerous precepts that he gave upon 
the duty of living peaceably with all men. "I'ut up thy 
sword into its sheath," said he, " for they that use the 
sword shall perish by the sword :" and oh I how fear- 
fully has this been verified ! flow has the dark valley 
of death swarmed with the myriads that have perished 
in bloody strife ! I need not speak of the thousands, 
nay, the millions that fell under a Ctesar ; an Alexander ; 
a Napoleon. I need not dwell upon the Crusades 
which were protracted for about 300 years, and in the 
first three years of which 850,000 professed christians 
perished by fatnine, pestilence and the sword, 1 need 
not refer you to Dresden and Waterloo and Horodina, 
at the first of which places 30,000 nsen fell in battle — 
at Waterloo 40,000, and at Borodina 80,000. These 
numbers are so vast that they do not make the impres- 
sion upon our minds that a single triurder in our streets 
would make. We are so familiar with the horrid statis- 
tics on this subject, that we are weary with the recital 
of them. Neither do the expenses of war have the 
influence that they ought in deterring a nation from re- 
sorting to this measure. Our last war with England, 
short and limited as it was, added ^;120,000,000 toour 
public debt. The war that grew out of the French 
devolution cost Great-i>ritain eleven hundred million 
of pounds sterling, and the frequent and protracted wars 
«f Britain have burdened her with a public debt so 



10 

vast, that to pay even the interest of it draws the 
Very life blood from her crushed population. 

Look too at the criminality of war, how it feeds 
every vice, and corrupts the soul, and calls into exer- 
cise every base passion.— It tells a man that he may 
butcher his brother, whom until the day of battle he has 
never before seen, and from whom he has received no 
injury or provocation. War tells us that acts which 
at other times are prohibited under the name of rob- 
bery, fraud and murder, here bear different names,and 
an opposite moral character. It permits us to cherish 
hatred, hypocrisy ,revenge and every malignant passion. 
It leads a man to forget every moral consideration, to 
neglect every interest and every duly, and give all his 
thoughts and energies to secure the destruction of his 
fellow creatures. He awakes in the morning to enter 
upon the dreadful carnage— lie takes his food that his 
limbs may bear him to the battle field and his arm be 
strengthened to plunge the sword to the heart of his 
brother. What an employment this for beings made 
in God's image— beings destined for an immortal state 
of existence. As illustrations of the criminality of war 
look at the late destruction by the French soldiery of 
1000 Algerines, under circumstances of the deepest 
cruelty. Look too at the war which was waged by 
England upon China and particularly at the capture 
of Ningpo.— " On the Chinese penetrating to the mar- 
ket-place in the centre of the city," says the narrator, 
" they were received by a heavy fire from our troops. 
This sudden check so damped their ardor that their 
only object appeared to be to get out of the city as fast 
as possible : in doing which they were crowded in dense 
masses in the narrow streets. The artillery now com- 
ing up within a hundred yards of the crowded fugitives, 
pom-ed in a most destructive fire. So awful was the 
destruction of human life, that the bodies were obliged 
to be removed to the sides of the street to allow the 
guns to advance : and the pursuit was followed up by 
Uie artillery and the I'.Mli regiment for miles." In lhi». 



11 

massacre of flying and unresisting men 9000 Chinese 
were slaughtered — slaughtered by a professedly chris- 
tian people, and all for gain. We have condemned the 
conduct of England tovvardsChina — we have condemn- 
ed the course pursued by the French in Algiers — and 
we have justly condemned both countries in their 
dealings with the South Sea and Sandwich Islands ; 
and can our own government he sustained in provoking 
a war with a neighboring republic ? " Is the time never 
to come," asks a distinguished philanthropist, "when the 
neighborhood of a more powerful and civilized people 
will prove a blessing instead of a curse to an inferior 
community ? If ever a people were placed by Piovi- 
denco in a condition to do good to a neighboring State, 
we of this country sustain such a relation to IMexico. — 
That nation, inferior in science, arts, agriculture and 
legislation, looked to us with a generous trust. She 
opened her ports and territories to our farmers, niechan- 
ics and merchants. We might have conquered her by 
the only honorable way, by the force of superior intel- 
ligence, industry and morality. We might silently 
have poured in upon her our improvements : and by 
the infusion of our population have assimilated her to 
ourselves. Justice, good-will and profitable intercourse 
might have cemented a lasting friendship. But what 
is .now the case ? A deadly hatred burns in IMexico 
towards this country. No stronger national sentiment 
now binds her scattered forces together than dread and 
detestation of Republican America. All the moral 
power, which we might have gained over Mexico, we 
have thrown away : and suspicion, dread and abhor- 
rence, have supplanted respect and trust." Whether 
these feelings break out into open hostilities or not, we 
have certainly provoked a war, and our course justly 
merits and we have reason to fear will receive tlic 
judgments of heaven. 

We might, did time allow, adduce the testimony of 
many distinguished names against this barbarous meas- 
ure. Lord Clarendon remarks — " A whole city on fire 



V2 

is a spentacle full of horror, but a whole kingdom on 
fire must be a prospect more terrible : and such is 
every kingdom in war where nothing flourishes but 
rapine, blood and murder. We cannot make a more 
lively representation and emblem to ourselves of the 
world of despair than by the view of a kingdom in war. 
War breaks all that order, interrupts all that devotion, 
and extinguishes all that zeal, which peace had kindled 
in us. It lays waste the dwelling place of God as well 
as of man, and introduces opinions and practices as 
much against heaven as against earth, and erects a 
Deity that desires nothing but cruelty and blood." 

Washington in his correspondence remarks, " How 
much more delightful to an undebauched mind is the 
task of making improvements on the earth, than all the 
vain glory which can be acquired by ravaging it by 
the most uninterrupted career of conquests. For the 
sake of humanity it is devoutly to be wished, that the 
manly employments of agriculture, and the harmonizing 
efleets of commerce, should supersede the waste of 
war, and the ravages of conquest — that swords may be 
turned into plough-shares, and spears into pruning-hooks, 
and the nations learn war no more." 

F?ut I hasten to speak particularly of the bearing? 
of our difliculties with Mexico upon the extension and 
perpetuation of slavery. This point has been alluded to, 
tiut it is deserving of a moment's farther consideration. 
If I mistake not the views of this audience, and of the 
community in New England generally, we are united 
in the opinion that slavery is an enormous evil. We 
have abolished this system at the North, and if we are 
consistent we desire and pray for its removal from 
every state in the Union. Now, we all know that the 
creat argument that has been used in favor of adding to 

too o 

our territory is, that the peculiar institutions of the 
S(mth will thereby be strengthened. As long ago as 
1829 this question was agitated and it was urged upon 
the cofnntunity on the ground of the strength and ex- 



13 

tension it would give to the slave-holding interests. — 
Essays were written to show the adaptation of the soil 
of Texas to slave-labor and the market that would there 
be opened for the slave-trade. And we all know that 
the domestic slave trade must receive a new in)pulse 
from the accession of this territory. In many of our 
older slave stales the soil is exhausted, and one promi- 
nent source of revenue to them is the raising and selling 
of slaves ; and it has been argued that in Virginia the 
value of slaves will be increased 50 per cent, by the 
annexation of Texas. Besides if this system is spread 
over this territory how can we assign limits to its still 
farther extension? What is to prevent new revolts in 
Mexico, and new demands being made upon us by the 
cupidity and avarice of the abettors of slavery ? Once 
break down the barriers of justice, and no bounds can 
be set to the extension of these evils. 

The foreign slave-trade will also be increased bv 
the acquisition of territory on our southern borders. 
This trade, it is true, is pronounced by our laws to be 
felony; but let this unsettled country, with an exten- 
sive sea-coast, open a market for slaves, and appeal 
strongly to the avarice of wicked, unprincipled men, 
and how are the laws to be enforced, especially at a 
point so distant from the seat of government ? It is 
well known that cargoes of slaves have been landed 
at Louisiana, and what is to keep them out of Texas ? 
What is to prevent a revival of the horrid traffic in 
human blood ? And are the citizens of New England 
in this enlightened, christian, benevolent age ready to 
go to war to augnient this calamity? Are they who 
heretofore have always contended for liberty now pre- 
pared suddenly to change their principles, and fight the 
battles of slavery — fight that the slave trade may re- 
ceive a new impulse — that bands of kidnappers may 
start out afresh and penetrate the villages of Africa and 
drag forth their chained and despairing victims, and 
after crowding them in the pestilential slave ship, con- 
sign them over to perpetual bondage ? 



14 

" To perpetuate and extend slavery," says one, "is 
not now, in a moral point of view, what it once was. 
We cannot shelter ourselves under the errors and usages 
of our times. We do not belong to the dark ages or to 
heathenism. We have not grown up under the preju- 
dices of a blinding, crushing tyranny. We live under 
free institutions, and under the broad light of Christian- 
ity. Every principle of our government and religion 
condemns slavery. The spirit of our age condemns it. 
The decree of a civilized world has gone out against it. 
In the whole circuit of civilized nations, with the single 
exception of the United States, not a voice is lifted up 
in defence of this system. All the great names in leg- 
islation and religion are against it. The most enduring 
reputations of our times have been won by resisting it. 
Recal the great names of this, and the last generation,and 
be they philosophers, philanthropists, poets, statesmen, 
jurists — all swell the reprobation of slavery. 'I'he lead- 
ers of difierent religious sects, join as brothers in one 
solemn testimony against slavery. And is this an age 
in which a free and christian people shall deliberately 
resolve to extend and perpetuate this evil? In doing 
so we cast ourselves ofl" from the communion of the 
nations : we sink below the civilization of our age : 
we expose ourselves to the scorn and indignation of the 
world :" and these matters ought to be seriously 
weighed. American citizens should ask themselves 
the question— whether as patriots, as philanthropists, 
as christians, they can in any way give their influence 
to increase those two enormous evils — war and slavery. 

I am aware that some persons may question the pro- 
priety of discussing this subject in the pulpit ; but I 
would ask if any one who loves his country, and 
values her institutions, and feels for the cause of his 
Redeemer, can see these evils coming upon the land, 
without sounding the note of alarm ? Can especially, 
ministers of the gospel of peace, be silent, without be- 
ing recreant to the high trusts committed to them ? 
The ministry was notinstituted for the ease and com- 



15 

fort of those who hold the sacred office. It was not 
lesigned that the watchmen on Zion's walls should 
studiously avoid subjects upon which there might hap- 
);)entobea diversity of opinion in the cotimiunity, 
ivhile these subjects vitally aflected the interest of re- 
iffion. We would be the last to introduce into the 
sacred desk party politics, and we would also be the 
'■last to shrink from any duty which the interests of 
i liberty and religion call upon us to discharge. We 
I fare all hastening to a higher tribunal than the opinions 
'Ofour fellow mortals. Our work here below will 
soon be done, and O let us see to it that it is well 
I done. If we have embraced a gospel of peace, let us 
abide by its principles. Let us listen to the benedic- 
tion, " Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be 
called the children of God." " Follow peace with 
all men," says the apostle. The Kingdom of God 
is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, 
; and joy in the Holy Ghost. But the question arises, 
I what can be done in the emergency in which we are 
j placed ? I reply, in the first place, we can pray ; we 
\ can supplicate him who has the hearts of rulers in his 
I hands, that he would avert from us the calamity of 
war and save us from the guilt of aiding in extending 
slavery ; and if we believe in the power of prayer, 
here is a mighty instrumentality which we can em- 
ploy for the good of our land and the prosperity of 
the Redeemer's kingdom. In ancient times God con- 
ferred national blessings in answer to prayer. He 
was willing to save Sodom if but ten righteous men 
could be found in the city; and if Christians are faith- 
ful in our land, will he not arrest the judgments that 
,are impending over it? " His arm is not shortened 
! that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that it can- 
not hear." 

Again, We can labor to din'u.se the principles of 
peace, and secure to our land and to the world all its 
attendant blessings. The sublime work of elevating 



1() 

aociety, of extending llie privileges of liberty, and 
blessing the world with the gospel of peace, is com- 
mitted to our nation. Providence has designed us — 
commissioned us to benefit, not to desolate other lands; 
to strike oft* the chains from the oppressed, not to bind 
them on; to conquer nations not by sword and cannon, 
but by truth, by science, by free principles and by the 
power of the gospel. When we send men to the 
Sandwich Islands, to India, to China, we send them 
armed with bibles, and tracts, and the rich treasures of 
Christianity; but those sent to Mexico must go with 
instruments of death. They must go to destroy; to 
burn cities and slay their inhabitants, and spread des- 
olation over the land. And all this for what ? To 
extend and perpetuate slavery ; to resist a nation 
slniggling for its rights — its territory of which we have 
robbed her. And suppose these difficulties actually 
result, as they may in open war, and suppose that 
us the poor Chinese fell before the English troops, and 
as the Algerines are now falling before the barbarous 
French soldiery, suppose thus the undisciplined Mexi- 
cans fall before the American army, will heaven hold 
us guiltless of their blood ? I tremble for my* country 
when embarked in such an enterprise as this. I see 
in the future, calamities that shall convulse the nation. 
The testimony against war and slavery is gathering 
strength with every new generation, and a nation can- 
not perpetuate these evils without bringing upon her 
the judgments of an offended Sovereign. Oh let us 
pray that instead of the vulture with the cruel spear 
and arrows in his talons, hovering over our fair re- 
public, we may descry the dove with the symbol of 
peace and the messages of love arid good will to man- 
kind. Let us pray that instead of the tumult of war, 
and the thunder of artillery, and the smoke of the 
battle-field, we may see the bow of promise sweeping 
the heavens and bearmg the pledge thai the earth shall 
never again be deluged with blood. «»• l\ /^ 







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